La Jornada: China urges not to follow Trump in tariff policy; “It’s a setback”

Beijing. Mexico has no reason to follow the “very bad example” of the United States in terms of imposing tariffs; The current situation implies a setback of five to 10 years and protectionism is on the rise, stressed Liu Feitao, vice president of the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), which depends on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Asian country.

“Currently, everything is divided and is already in decline. So I think Mexico should look further into the future,” added the general secretary of the Chinese National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation at a press conference, while emphasizing that following the “very bad example” of President Donald Trump in trade matters is worse, given that the United States Supreme Court has already annulled most of the battery of tariffs launched a year ago.

According to official data, Mexico slightly reduced its trade deficit with China in the first two months of the year: it reached 18,848,263,000 dollars, 2 percent less than what was recorded in the January-February 2025 period, when it recorded 19,235,931,000 dollars. In the same period, sales of Chinese products exceeded purchases by 48,511,751 million dollars, which increased the trade surplus of the Asian nation by 24.1 percent.

Setback for APEC

Yang Zerui, research director at China’s National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation, added that the increase in tariffs represents a major setback for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) process.

“Since its creation in 1989, the general tariff rate has been decreasing. However, after Trump’s arrival to the presidency, US tariffs have increased considerably, which has been a false step for that country,” although he noted that he does not expect this situation to persist for long. He Xilin, secretary of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council, agreed with him and stressed that the majority of Asia-Pacific economies are in favor of free trade.